


Head in the Game

by melonbread (ApocalypseUmbra)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Broken Bones, Injury, M/M, Pre-Slash, Quidditch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 08:38:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9171175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApocalypseUmbra/pseuds/melonbread
Summary: A normal Quidditch practice takes a turn for the annoying. Daichi just wants the rest of the school to leave him and his team alone. Except Suga. Suga can stay.





	

Daichi had been under the impression that this was going to be like any other practice.

He had roused his team with the same amount of difficulty as usual, eaten a normal breakfast, made his way down to the Qudditch pitch same as always, leading his team along. But even before he got there, he could hear at least two people talking. Or maybe it was more? It sounded like a whole crowd. He glanced around at his team, but nobody seemed to have noticed anything. Maybe they were too tired? Tanaka looked dead on his feet. Then again, he never slept enough; maybe that was why he was always so rowdy.

The mystery was solved when Daichi actually made it onto the pitch. There was a crowd, probably about a dozen people. Two out of the group stood in the middle of a lopsided circle. They looked as though they had just finished arguing, or were just about to start. Everyone was holding brooms, which made him think that they must be there to play, but that would be ridiculous. Daichi had booked the pitch for Gryffindor today, he was sure of it. Someone in the group noticed him and his team and grabbed the attention of one of the arguers.

“Daichi? What are you doing here?” Daichi’s eyes widened and he pushed his way to the circle. No, he wasn’t mistaken, he did hear Suga, which was weird, but not bad. He would have smiled if the atmosphere wasn’t so tense.

“What do you mean?” Daichi asked. He heard his team follow behind him, suddenly more awake. He hoped they weren’t looking for a fight, but he could almost feel Tanaka start making that damn face. “I booked the pitch for practice today.”

“You too?” Daichi’s attention was taken away from talking to Suga, which he enjoyed, to talking to Kuroo, which he didn’t. “

What do you mean, me too?”

Suga sighed. “He means that all three of us booked the pitch for today, apparently. We were…discussing it just before you came.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, have any ideas? I mean, we got here first, so I say my team should have the right of way,” Kuroo asserted.

“Wait, wait,” Daichi countered. “I have a new Chaser to train, so I need to use it.”

“Some of my team members want to try new maneuvers, so I do too” Suga replied.

“Daichi's not the only one with a new Chaser. Little Tsukishima here, he needs training,” Kuroo said, pulling forward Tsukishima, who, though still a fifth-year, had definitely been on the team since last year and was far from little.

“Tsukishima’s had training,” Daichi said. “Yamaguchi hasn’t.”

“But he’s still woefully inexperienced,” Kuroo said, shaking his head sadly. “What kind of a captain would I be if I let him continue like this?”

“A captain who’s slightly less annoying,” Tsukishima muttered. He squirmed out of Kuroo’s grip and stepped back.

“So,” Suga interjected. His eyes were colder than Daichi had ever seen them, which was kind of scary since they’d been close since their first year. Daichi gently touched his shoulder. Suga glanced at him and took a deep breath. “Okay. How are we supposed to fix this? We all have a claim.”

Daichi hoped that this would somehow sort itself out, but then something arrived to make the situation even worse. “Oh? What’s going on here?” an overly chipper voice called out. Everyone’s head turned around to the source and Daichi gritted his teeth. The entire Slytherin Quidditch team had joined the fiasco.

It wasn’t as though Daichi disliked the Slytherins; he respected them as opponents and he didn’t have and particular issue with them. It was just that their captain sort of rubbed him the wrong way.

“Oikawa? Don’t tell me you booked the pitch too?” Suga asked reluctantly, already looking like he knew the answer.

“I did indeed! How’d you know?” Oikawa replied, still cheerier than anyone had a right to be at seven AM on a Saturday.

“Because me, Kuroo, and Daichi also booked it,” Suga groaned. He looked ready to give up right there, but Daichi knew he was more tenacious than that. Daichi just hoped that the fight wouldn’t be physical.

“Well, that’s a problem,” Oikawa said. “How could something like this have possibly happened?” Daichi squinted; Oikawa’s cheerfulness was not only annoying, but now vaguely suspicious. He was up to something. Somehow. It was too early to figure out what, but it was something.

“We’ve been trying to figure out how to fix this. And fairly, mind you,” Kuroo chimed in. “Any ideas?”

“Hmm, what if we all just shared?”

If a pin had dropped, Daichi was sure he would have heard it. Nobody said a word, instead opting to glance at each other nervously.

“Uh, I’m not sure if that’s such a good idea,” Suga said tentatively.

“Why not?” Oikawa asked blithely. Daichi was sure that it was front and everyone else knew as well. Everyone also knew Oikawa never forgot a player’s strengths or weaknesses. “Don’t you trust me, Suga?”

Something about how Oikawa said Suga’s name irritated Daichi. As far as he knew, they weren’t that close. Fortunately, Suga sounded as exasperated as Daichi: “Honestly, I’m positive that you’re looking to get a leg up in the tournament.”

“Aw, how mean,” Oikawa whined. “Then just don’t do anything you don’t want me to see. There, problem solved!”

“That’s—why—” Suga stuttered. “Then why should we even _be_ here?”

“I don’t know, that’s your choice!” Oikawa replied, with a smug smile.

“Oikawa, you got here last, you don’t even have a stake in this,” Kuroo pointed out lazily. He was leaning heavily on the Ravenclaw Seeker, who looked like he couldn’t care less about the outcome. Daichi thought his name was Kozume? Kuroo was always hanging around him.

“Well, I _also_ booked the pitch, so I think I have just as much a stake in this as you do,” Oikawa replied coldly, but soon brightened. “Actually, I have an idea!”

That was quite possibly the last thing Daichi wanted to hear come out of Oikawa’s mouth. The last time Oikawa had suggested an idea, it had ended with a blown-up cauldron and left Daichi with no eyebrows. It also led to Daichi studiously sitting nowhere near Oikawa in any other Potions classes. “What kind of idea?” Daichi asked cautiously.

“Oh, don’t look so scared!” Oikawa said, waving a hand around. “We’re all athletes here. If I can beat you in an endurance race, I’ll leave. But I’ll stay if I win.”

“Wait, just you?” Suga asked. “That sounds kind of unfair.”

“Well, more like my team,” Oikawa amended. “But the point stands.”

Suga glanced at Daichi, silently asking what he thought. Daichi shrugged slightly and raised an eyebrow; Suga set his jaw determinedly, and so it was decided.

“Has the happy couple decided yet? We’re all very curious,” Kuroo drawled. “We’ll be competing, of course. It’ll be fun.”

Daichi shot him a glare and Suga flushed pink and huffed. “We’ll try too,” Daichi said. “Unless someone’s opposed?” Yamaguchi looked terrified, Asahi looked about to puke, Ennoshita looked tired, and, if nobody stopped him, Tanaka would probably bulldoze all four teams with the energy pouring off him. So, mostly normal, all in all.

“Great!” Oikawa said, clapping his hands. “Whoever runs the longest wins. Go!”

The whole group took off running. Almost immediately, people split off from their Houses and stuck near their friends. Daichi noticed Noya, from Hufflepuff, talking a mile a minute to Asahi, with Tanaka cutting in sometimes. Asahi looked besieged. Yamaguchi had stuck close to Tsukishima and was chatting at him cheerfully.

“So,” a voice said at Daichi’s shoulder. He jumped and heard a pleasant laugh. Suga moved to his side. “Sorry, couldn’t resist startling you. Anyway, enjoying the game?”

“You know me well enough to know,” Daichi sighed.

“Ah, of course,” Suga said, grinning. “Can’t waste time, what kind of a captain would?”

“No, it’s just…” Daichi scowled. “This is dumb.”

“Hmm, yeah, it’s not like we need to run too much to play Quidditch,” Suga replied thoughtfully. “Kind of defeats the purpose of the brooms.”

Daichi laughed. He glanced at Suga, who smiled back. “No, but…Oikawa wouldn’t have suggested this unless he thought he could get something out of it.”

“Of course not,” Suga said, rolling his eyes. “He thinks Slytherin is a shoo-in to win this. And looking at our leaders, I don't think he's far off the mark.”

Daichi looked and saw two figures a few feet ahead of the rest. He squinted and made out a head of orange hair and a taller, darker-haired figure neck and neck, both clad in flaring green Quidditch robes. He sighed deeply. “They’re on the same side, why are they competing?”

Suga laughed again. “Well, you know Hinata and Kageyama. Neither of them can stand to lose. And Hinata’s stamina is incredible, really, so this could take a while.”

“So, how long until they drop?” Daichi asked.

“ Oh, there's no way to tell. We could be here for weeks. Now, if I were to make a prediction, I’d say someone from Ravenclaw will drop out first.”

“No faith in your team?” Daichi said, acting shocked.

“Kozume has no mind for exercises like this,” Suga sighed. “He’s a great Seeker, I’ll give him that, but he’s not someone I'd peg for an athlete in the first place. He needs to eat more. He’s only sixteen, he can still grow.”

“I don’t think the amount of vegetables you shove down his throat will make any difference.”

“It might! I'm just worried he's going to collapse during a match or something,” Suga said, looking so worried that Daichi couldn’t help but laugh.

“Careful Suga, your maternal instincts are showing,” Daichi laughed. Suga punched his arm.

“Oh shut up, or I’ll shove vegetables down your throat,” he muttered.

“Well, you're always like this,” Daichi snickered.

“Like what?” Suga said, pushing out his lips in a pout.

“Like a mom,” Daichi replied.

“Maybe you guys _need_ a mom, ever think of that?” Suga said, sticking his tongue out.

“Yeah, everyone in the school?” Daichi scoffed.

“I don't help out  _everyone_.”

“Suga, you’ve helped like eight first-years in the past week alone. And that’s just what I’ve seen.”

Suga looked away. “It’s not my fault they don’t know their way around. And that they can’t reach books in the library. Have you seen those shelves?”

“Yeah, you drag me there on like a daily basis,” Daichi reminded him. “They could use the ladders. The ladders that are literally there for that."

“Well, yeah. But those look really dangerous. They probably haven’t been replaced since this place _opened_ ,” Suga scoffed.

“Wow, that’s definitely not something my mother would say.”

“She sounds like a woman of intelligence.”

“Suga, you’ve _met_ my mom. She sends you more care packages than she sends _me._ "

“Well, then I know that for a fact. And I know that my mothering has helped you out more than a few times. Who knows what kind of messes you might have gotten into without me?”

“Half the time, you do that kind of stuff.”

“And I always get out of it fine,” Suga said, flashing a grin.

Daichi rolled his eyes. “Okay, but does that mean you should mother people from other teams?”

“I supposedly mother you, don’t I?”

“That’s different.”

“Oh, of course it is,” Suga laughed. “Speaking of mothering, how’s your new Chaser doing? He looks pretty out of his element.”

“Yamaguchi? I think he could be really good,” Daichi said. Truth be told, Yamaguchi could be great if his self-confidence got better, but Daichi wasn’t going to dive into that stuff too quickly. He planned on waiting until Yamaguchi was more comfortable and see if it sorted itself out.

“He’s not good now?” Suga asked. Daichi noticed that his breathing was heavier than it was at the beginning. He also heard a lot less footsteps from behind them than before.

“No, he’s…he’s not bad. He’s got a good arm. And good instincts. But he’s had next to no training and he gets nervous easily.” Daichi sighed. “I wish I could have gotten him started today, it would have been easier to do it before the bad weather sets in. I’m a little worried about him.”

“And you’re talking about my parenting?” Suga said. “Geez, you sound like you’re about to adopt this guy. Next you'll be giving him affirming pep talks.”

“Wha—I’m just concerned,” Daichi said haughtily.

“Yeah, right,” Suga snorted. And Daichi wasn’t sure if it was just Suga’s smile, or the way the light hit his hair, or maybe Daichi was more sleep-deprived than he thought, but everything fell out of his head except Suga. Which meant that, keeping track of where his feet were going were no longer a priority. Daichi tripped and just barely avoided smashing his nose of the ground.

“Daichi! You’re out!” Oikawa called. He was just behind Hinata and Kageyama, flanked by Iwaizumi, who was probably on the fast track for sainthood for being around Oikawa day and night without giving in to the urge to smash his own head in.

“Don’t call me by my first name,” Daichi grumbled as he picked himself up off the ground.

“Aw, we’ve known each other for seven years!”

“Unfortunately!” Daichi went to sit near the edge of the group of drop-outs. Asahi looked at him hopefully, maybe looking for assistance, but Daichi shook his head. Nobody could get Noya to stop talking once he started. Tanaka looked like he was dead asleep next to him, and it looked like Ennoshita was _actually_ asleep – there was no way he’d be leaning on Tanaka’s shoulder like that if he was awake. Most everyone had already dropped out, Daichi noticed. _How long had I been talking to Suga?_ he wondered.

Glancing around, he noticed that all of his team was out. Most of Ravenclaw was also out, except Suga, Bokuto, and Akaashi. Daichi should have expected that; he wasn’t sure if Bokuto ever ran out of energy and Akaashi was a lot tougher than he looked. Being on the other side of a Bludger from him was more than enough to tell Daichi that.

Hufflepuff was all out. Kuroo was once again leaning on Kozume. Yaku, the Ravenclaw Keeper, was on Kuroo’s other side. From what Daichi could tell, he was making fun of Kuroo, since Kuroo’s face was tomato red.

The only people left in the race were Oikawa, Iwaizumi, the Ravenclaws, and the weird duo, who had remained the leaders of the pack with no sign of slowing down. None of them looked ready to stop naytime soon. Daichi flopped down on his back until a familiar voice woke him.

“Hey.” Daichi’s head shot up and connected with Suga’s. They both jumped apart with a shout.

“Oh god, I’m sorry!” Daichi exclaimed.

“No, I’m fine,” Suga said. He removed his hand from his head. “See, not even red.”

“Are you sure?” Suga nodded insistently and Daichi sighed. “Alright. So. Any idea who’s going to win?”

“Akaashi’s probably going to drop soon,” Suga replied, sitting down next to Daichi and leaning on his arm. “That means if we’re going to win, it’s up to Bokuto.”

Daichi wrinkled his brow. “Yeah, but Oikawa looks like he’s going to literally push himself to the limit for this.”

“Doesn’t he always?” Suga sighed. “Anyway, all we can do is wait.”

They didn’t have to wait long. Akaashi walked off when he ran past the drop-out group. Bokuto yelled that he would “carry on his spirit,” whatever that meant. Akaashi looked like he just wanted to take a long nap, but he usually looked tired. Probably because he was always corralling Bokuto.

It didn’t take much longer for Oikawa to drop. Iwaizumi left with him. Daichi could hear Oikawa whining from all the way across the pitch. The two of them sat down near the rest of the Slytherins.

Either Bokuto sped up, or Hinata and Kageyama slowed down, but suddenly Bokuto was in front. He had a nice burst of speed that landed him a couple feet in front, but then he, pretty anticlimactically, collapsed to the ground.

Hinata and Kageyama raced ahead of him. Hinata was jumping and yelling something and slapped Kageyama’s hands excitedly. Kageyama might have been smiling, but it was too far away to tell.

"Okay!” Oikawa called. “One more lap, you two!”

“What? Why?” Kageyama shouted.

“Because I’m your captain!” Oikawa shouted back, and then sighed with his arms crossed. “Honestly, Iwa-chan, they have absolutely no respect!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t bully them,” Iwaizumi grumbled.

“How rude, I do not!”

“Maybe you don’t deserve respect.”

_“Hey--!"_

Daichi knew better than to keep listening to Oikawa once his voice got that high-pitched, so he promptly tuned out. Besides, Hinata was still yelling as he started his ordered round of laps, and it was hard to hear anything else over him. “I won’t lose, Bakageyama!” he shouted when he ran past.

“Neither will I!” Kageyama yelled back. Where the hell they got their energy, Daichi had no clue, but it was exhausting just to watch them.

They finished their lap neck-and-neck. After they passed the goal, they also collapsed. Suga heaved a sigh. “They really never learn, do they?”

“Maybe someday?” Daichi said hopefully.

“Have you met them?” Suga scoffed. “Ah well, they have the determination of pros, that's for sure.”

“Alright, everyone!” Oikawa called, once Iwaizumi had retrieved Hinata and Kageyama. They were still wheezing. “So, Slytherin won! And now I don’t have to leave! I don’t know about you guys, but I think we’ll start practice now.”

“Hold on, hold on,” Kuroo said, standing up. “I never said I was leaving. And you never said we had to.”

“Hmm? I just thought that since you put up such a fuss earlier, you would just want to go,” Oikawa replied with a shrug. “I was wrong?”

“Damn straight,” Kuroo scoffed. “Do you know how hard it is to get everyone up and ready this early? No, we’re going to practice and I honestly couldn’t care less what you’re doing.”

“Oh? Well, be my guest,” Oikawa said, now smiling in a more unnerving way. He was more baring his teeth than actually smiling.

“Everyone, calm down,” Suga sighed, also getting up. “We can't all use the pitch at once. How is anyone supposed to do anything?”

“Now, Suga, I don’t have all the answers,” Oikawa said. “What do you think?”

“How about new teams?” someone called out. Daichi turned and saw Bokuto half-standing, half being pulled down by Akaashi.

“What does that mean?” Daichi asked.

“I mean, like, ah what’s the word,” Bokuto muttered. “When you play casually and the team members are random? Like that?”

“Oh! A scrimmage!” Hinata shouted, head suddenly whipping up excitedly when mere seconds ago he’d been collapsed on the ground.

“That’s it!” Bokuto replied, grinning. “Let’s do that. Then we all get some practice, but nobody finds out anything they’re not supposed to know. Problem solved!”

“That’s…actually not a bad idea,” Suga said, looking thoughtful. “Maybe it’d also help to work with people you don’t normally work with. Be versatile. I'd try it."

“I don’t have a problem,” Daichi put in. "It'd be a nice change of pace." Anyway, he didn’t want Oikawa to find out about his plans for the next few matches.

Kuroo grinned. “Sounds fun. How do we decide teams though? Can’t have captains pick, they’ll just choose the same teams as always.”

“We can pick out of a hat!” Hinata called. Everyone turned to look at him. He must have noticed the odd looks because he continued. “Yeah, you put everyone’s name in a hat and pull them out and whoever you pick is on your team.”

“Sounds good!” Bokuto said. “Wait, where do we get a hat from? And the names?”

“Ah,” Hinata mumbled. “I didn’t really think that far, actually.”

“It’s fine, we can just write our names down,” Suga said hurriedly. “Here, I brought my bag down anyway, everyone just take a scrap of paper and put your name.”

It took about five minutes to properly get organized, but eventually there was a pile of folded scraps for each position. Daichi, Oikawa, Bokuto, and Shimizu had been chosen as temporary captains. So, at least Daichi could look on the bright side and say that at least he wouldn’t have to work with Bokuto or Oikawa, who were very good, but very temperamental. And annoying.

Bokuto reached into the pile first and drew Kuroo. Shimizu drew Yaku, Oikawa drew Tsukishima, and suddenly it was Daichi’s turn. He hoped against hope that he would draw someone he knew. He closed his eyes and grabbed the first piece of paper there.

He cleared his throat and unfolded the paper. “Suga.” He could have cried in relief. Suga was the best possible option. He must have used up all his luck, especially considering how Suga was directing his sunny smile over to Daichi. Though, his luck must have held, because he drew Hinata and Kageyama, who everyone knew worked best together, and Noya, arguably the best Keeper in the school. He also drew Kozume as Seeker. Suga insisted he was very good. Hinata just seemed pleased to talk at him. His last beater was Akaashi, whom he knew was good. All in all, it was really an above average team.

“Dude, no fair, I wanted Akaashi,” Bokuto called, running over to Daichi’s team. “Trade me.”

“What? No,” Daichi scoffed. This was probably one of the most formidable teams he could have put together, he sure as hell wasn’t giving up a valuable player.

“You have Tanaka, he’s alright.”

“Yeah, okay, but I want Akaashi. I’ll give you Kuroo for him,” Bokuto said.

“ _I_ don’t want Kuroo.”

“Whoa, rude! What am I, a Chocolate Frog card?” Kuroo griped. “Bokuto, you too man, I thought we were friends. Though, it _is_ Akaashi, so…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Bokuto shouted, going far too pink in the face over such a small comment. _Actually,_ Daichi thought, glancing toward Akaashi, _he’s looking a little red too._

“Hmm, I wonder,” Kuroo snickered.

“You’re impossible. Teasing me about this stuff, look at yourself,” Bokuto muttered. “Don’t you _dare!_ ” Kuroo hissed.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Bokuto sang. “Anyway, Daichi—“

He was cut off by a sharp look from Suga. “Are we going to play, or argue?” Suga huffed.

“Sorry, sorry,” Kuroo said, pulling Bokuto back. “Anyway, let’s just start, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Suga agreed. “I guess we’ll start, I’m not sure what Oikawa’s doing. Someone toss the Quaffle in play."

“I’ll do it,” Shimizu said quietly, with a hint of a sigh in her voice. She looked impatient, if what Daichi could read of her expression was anything to go on. Regardless, he didn't want to be on her bad side.

The two teams huddled around the starting circle. The three Chasers on each side lined up for the first capture of the game. Suga was calming Hinata down, with little help from Kageyama. Bokuto looked like he was trying to joke around with Ennoshita, who looked like he’d rather be anywhere else. Kiyoko released the Bludgers, the Snitch, and finally tossed the Quaffle up to start the game.

Immediately, Bokuto grabbed it, heading off Kageyama. Bokuto tossed it over to Kuroo. Hinata managed to get in front of the toss and was off toward the goal almost instantly. Ennoshita flew next to Hinata and popped the Quaffle out of his arms. He lobbed it to Kuroo, who, for some reason, was upside down, hanging onto his broom by his legs.

He passed to Bokuto, who was blocked by Noya. The Quaffle was taken and Noya threw it to Suga, who passed to Kageyama. Kageyama out-feinted Kuroo and sped towards the right goal post. He looked about to toss, but he passed to Hinata, who scored in the left hoop, to everyone’s surprise. Well, in retrospect, Kageyama was known for his exceptional passing skills. Daichi wasn’t sure how good he was at scoring; pretty good, as far as he knew, but Hinata was really the more offensive of the two.

Bokuto took the Quaffle and blasted across the pitch. He was just barely too fast for Noya, whose fingers grazed the ball as it soared through the goal.

Bokuto started yelling and didn’t notice when Suga took off past him. Daichi saw him gaining ground and directed a Bludger at the defense to help out. Suga flashed him appreciative grin as he passed to Hinata, who scored again.

Kuroo was starting to look like he might actually start playing instead of just messing around. Daichi chose to head him off on his way to the goalposts with a well-timed Bludger that passed directly in front of him. Kuroo came to a screeching halt in midair, but held onto the Quaffle. But this had given Hinata time to catch up - he stole the ball and raced off, only to be cut off by Bokuto, who stole it back.

Bokuto managed to score by feinting to the right and scoring through the left goal. Noya threw the ball back into play with such a venom that he almost knocked Kageyama over. However, Kageyama recovered well and sped toward the goal, with Suga carefully following behind. Kageyama was blocked by the other team’s Chaser, but skillfully passed to Hinata who scored through the center hoop.

Bokuto once again got possession of the ball, but Akaashi nearly knocked him off his broom with a well-placed Bludger. Suga grabbed it as it fell and scored again. Bokuto looked torn at being betrayed or praising Akaashi and really, it was pretty amusing to watch the conflicting emotions on his face.

Bokuto looked like he was getting into one of his moods, but Daichi wasn’t going to complain if one of the school’s best scorers was off his game. Suga was grinning somewhat maliciously, which Daichi took as a sign that he was plotting something.

Suga waved to get Daichi’s attention and then pointed to Bokuto and tilted his head. Daichi was going to assume that meant to stop Bokuto and was sure that Suga had a strategy. Suga usually had good plans and if Suga thought it would work, who was he to object?

Kuroo had the Quaffle, but was blocked by Kageyama and tossed it over to Bokuto, who took off as soon as he got it. Daichi saw a Bludger in his peripheral vision and sped towards it. He saw Akaashi race towards the other Bludger and wondered if Suga was giving him directions as well. Strangely, that didn’t sit well with Daichi. He had been sort of hoping that only he and Suga were in on the plan, which made it special in a weird kind of way.

Either way, he had a job to do. Daichi and Akaashi both aimed their Bludgers at Bokuto. Bokuto dodged the first from Daichi, but was caught off-guard when Akaashi almost hit him from behind. He dropped the Quaffle and Suga grabbed it from where he had been waiting a couple yards below Bokuto.

Bokuto stiffened when Suga scored. He turned deliberately to Kuroo and shouted something. Suga and Akaashi exchanged a look and both shook their heads. Daichi flew to Suga’s side.

“Good job,” Suga said with a smile. Daichi grinned back. “Bokuto gets flustered easily and then he gets all gloomy. It’s a real problem keeping him happy during games.”

“Are you sure you should be telling an enemy all this?” Daichi joked.

Suga rolled his eyes. “It’s fine, we all look out for him. And between you and me,” Suga whispered, “all it takes usually is some words of encouragement, especially from Akaashi. He’s too embarrassed to do it most of the time though.”

“I can hear both of you talking about me,” Akaashi said neutrally. Daichi flushed pink, but Suga laughed it off.

“Ah, you know it’s true. But now, with nobody besides Kuroo to help, Bokuto’s not going to want to score.”

“So that’s what you were planning,” Daichi sighed. “Well, looks like it’s working in any case.”

Kuroo and Bokuto appeared to be arguing. Asahi, abandoning his job as Seeker, was trying to help, but he was clearly in over his head. Kageyama and Hinata had no idea what was going on, which wasn’t uncommon, and it looked like Kozume had also lost interest in the match. The Snitch hadn’t shown up, which he took as a chance to lazily drift fifty feet above the action. Kuroo looked over at him worriedly, but couldn’t escape his conversation with Bokuto. Daichi sighed. As funny as this was, watching both of them gesticulating wildly from their brooms, he actually wanted the match to continue.

“You said Akaashi can calm him down?” Daichi asked.

“Yeah, but he won’t want to,” Suga replied.

“Did you forget that I’m here?” Akaashi asked. “I keep getting the feeling that the two of you are off in your own world sometimes.”

Daichi felt a familiar blush creep up his neck. “Never mind that. Listen, I want to get this match going again, and apparently you’re the only one who can get Bokuto to stop being a huge baby.”

“Well, that’s not entirely true,” Akaashi mumbled, looking away. “Sugawara could do it.”

“He listens to you more,” Suga interjected.

“You’re the captain here,” Akaashi pointed out.

“Actually, Daichi’s this team’s captain,” Suga replied breezily. “So you see, you need to listen to your captain and get Bokuto to stop moping.”

Akaashi looked unhappy, but nodded. He flew off towards Bokuto and within minutes, Bokuto was back to his normal self. “He says he’s ready to start,” Akaashi reported. “Couldn’t we have just ignored him?”

“I guess, but there’s not much to do with only two Chasers,” Suga said, shrugging. “And he makes it interesting.”

“If you say so,” Akaashi muttered, looking fed up with the whole situation. 

The match continued, but the atmosphere was strangely less serious. In fact, after Bokuto’s outburst, no one was taking the game too seriously anymore, and the whole scrimmage devolved into something less productive but way more fun. The Chasers started doing weirder stuff, like Bokuto trying to stand on his broomstick and ride it like that. He just barely avoided falling off. Noya started doing more daring saves, flying away and speeding back to block the goal just in time, drawing cheers from the rest of the players waiting on the ground. The game really shouldn’t have gone on for as long as it had, but the Seekers couldn’t seem to find the Snitch.

Daichi wondered where it could possibly be, but his thoughts were interrupted by a sudden gasp from the crowd. Both Seekers were racing along the ground. They circled the pitch, neck and neck, arms outstretched. Both teams had stopped their playing and watched the battle unfold. Everyone was too distracted to notice anything else, which would explain why Suga hadn’t seen the Bludger hurtling towards his head.

Daichi’s heart stopped. He felt himself move on instinct, only knowing that he absolutely couldn’t let Suga get hurt.

Suga noticed the Bludger a split second after it was too late to dodge. Daichi saw his eyes widen and then squeeze shut, but everything beyond that was a blur. All he remembered was a searing pain in his arm and some screaming. He thought he must have passed out for a minute, because the next thing he knew, he was on the ground with Suga frantically checking his head. Suga was a bit too close, but Daichi found that he didn’t really mind it. Strange.

“Suga, what…” Daichi couldn’t continue. He tried to move, but the pain flared up and he bit back a scream. It wasn’t just his arm, his entire body felt sore, as if he’d been hit with a giant hammer.

“Don’t move!” Suga shouted, obviously panicking. Daichi wanted to tell him to calm down, but he knew that would be a little hypocritical, seeing as he himself was just barely holding back a long string of swears. “Oh god, that was the stupidest thing you’ve ever done, Daichi!”

“What’d I…?” He trailed off, couldn’t find it in him to keep talking.

“I’ll tell you what you did!” The frantic concern was leaving Suga’s voice and giving way to anger. Daichi would be shrinking back if he could. “You jumped in front of a Bludger and broke your arm! And then fell off your broom! For god’s sake, Daichi, _you have a bat for this kind of stuff!_ How could you _be_ this stupid?!”

“Well, it wasn’t exactly planned,” Daichi muttered. Suga was right, that was so dumb. So, so dumb. Why didn’t he regret it? Honestly, the only thing wrong was that his arm was broken, not anything leading up to it getting broken.

“Oh god, are you dying? You passed out, you might be dying, oh god, don’t you dare die!” Suga babbled hysterically. “Someone help me get him standing!”

Asahi ran forward and helped Suga prop him up. Daichi was leaning heavily on Suga and really wanted to move because he knew that this couldn’t be comfortable, but Suga was placing his hand on Daichi’s waist and suddenly any protests withered in his mouth.

“I’m taking you to the hospital wing right now,” Suga told him. He didn’t seem to expect an answer because he turned his face away away and started walking slowly up towards the school, supporting Daichi as best he could. This allowed Daichi a nice view of Suga’s profile, but he had to say, he preferred seeing Suga’s face head on, despite how nice his eyelashes looked at the moment. He thought he must be delirious; these were some weird thoughts passing through his head.

Out of the corner of his eye, Daichi saw Kuroo and Bokuto saluting him as he was all but dragged off the pitch. Daichi usually would have yelled, but he didn’t think he could open his mouth without complaining about the sharp pains all over his body. Thankfully, Suga seemed to read his mind.

“You two stop that, it’s rude!” Suga shouted. 

Kuroo started to loudly whistle a funeral dirge. Daichi wasn’t sure if it was respectful or not, but he was willing to bet it would be the latter. He and Bokuto stood there swaying until Kozume smacked Kuroo’s stomach. Kozume noticed him looking over and held up his hand. Daichi could just make out wings fluttering on either side of his fist.

“So…we won?” Daichi mumbled. Suga glared at him.

“I can’t _believe_ you’re worried about that at a time like this!” Suga huffed irritably.

“It’s important,” Daichi said.

“Are you kidding me?” Suga sighed. “Just…shut up, your head must have been scrambled by the fall. God, I really need to get you taken care of before you get worse.”

About halfway to the castle, Suga’s breathing was starting to become more labored. Daichi felt far too guilty about forcing Suga to basically carry him up a hill and over to the hospital wing. “Suga? I can walk,” Daichi said, pulling away slightly. It was to no avail. Suga only gripped his waist tighter. “

No you can’t, you just got injured!” Suga replied. “And anyway, you were trying to help me anyway, in your dumb way. The least I can do is take you to get medical help.”

“You don’t need to pay me back anything,” Daichi insisted.

“That’s not why I helped you.” Suga glanced at Daichi, but quickly looked away. “In any case, you need help, and like hell am I going to let my best friend try and stumble his way up a hill. You’d probably collapse as soon as I let go.”

“Maybe,” Daichi conceded. He felt faint even from what little walking he was doing on his own. He decided to just try to relax and not jostle his arm or his head.

“How are you feeling?” Suga asked soon after.

“Been better,” Daichi replied, stifling a grunt of pain when his head gave another shooting flash of pain.

“Well, I’d hope so,” Suga snorted. “Don’t try and make me laugh, I’m mad at you.”

“If you had taken that Bludger, we’d still be going up to the hospital wing,” Daichi protested.

“…Stop trying to be smart, you’ll hurt your head more.”

Daichi almost laughed, but found that it was kind of difficult at the moment. Instead, he sort of snorted, which still hurt, but less than he expected. Eventually, they made it up to the hospital wing. Thankfully, it was on the ground floor, so at least neither of them collapsed on. Daichi wasn’t sure who was more exhausted, himself or Suga.

They stumbled into the room and were immediately fussed over. Daichi must have looked worse than he thought, because he was closely examined while Suga told the story with nervous, fluttering hands to emphasize. Daichi found it oddly cute the way he scrunched up his brow and twiddled his thumbs. He had never really noticed how cute Suga’s mannerisms were.

“…and mostly I’m worried about his head, because he passed out when he hit the ground. We woke him up, but I’m still worried,” Suga concluded, out of breath and flushed with emotion. It looked like the enormity of the situation was just hitting him. Despite all his blustering and anger, Daichi knew he was really just concerned. It was endearing how much he cared. _Endearing? It just Suga being Suga,_ Daichi thought to himself _. He’s always like that._

The nurse bustled around Daichi, fixing his arm and all his bruises in a moment, but repeatedly checking his head. She asked him to walk around and looked in his eye for something or other, he wasn’t really paying too much attention, he was more concerned with Suga, who was pacing the long room and casting nervous glances in Daichi’s direction.

“Really,” Daichi protested. “I’m fine, it was just my arm.”

“That’s not true,” Suga countered. “You couldn’t even get up by yourself!”

“That was only because I was in shock or something!” Daichi replied. He didn’t feel that great, but he wasn’t going to worry Suga unnecessarily.

“If you were in shock, it’s obviously not good!” Suga said heatedly. “You should stay here just to be safe.”

“What? Suga, please, I’m really okay, I promise!” Daichi tried to smile reassuringly, but it turned into more of a wince, and Suga looked alarmed.

“You don’t seem to know what okay means then,” Suga snapped. “Daichi, I’m worried about you.”

“There’s no need to be,” Daichi said as calmly as he could.

Suga stepped forward and grabbed Daichi’s arm. He glared at Daichi and said, “Look me in the eye and tell me you’re okay.”

In all their years of friendship, he had yet to figure out how to lie convincingly to Suga. Daichi glanced around nervously. He looked just about everywhere besides Suga’s eyes. He worked up some courage and stared directly at him, but the words died in his throat. He couldn’t. It was easier to just give up. “No,” Daichi admitted. “Okay, so my head hurts a bit. It’s nothing to get worked up over.”

“It might be! What if you’re actually really hurt and you never get to play Quidditch again or something? And it’s all my fault?” Suga looked earnestly at Daichi, as though Daichi being hurt was hurting him too.

Daichi touched Suga’s wrist. “Even if that did happen, it wouldn’t have been your fault. You told me yourself, I was being stupid and did something dangerous. And nothing’s happened so you don’t need to worry.” Daichi saw the almost terrified look Suga had on his face and all he wanted to do was make Suga smile again, make him relax, even just a little. He sighed. “Would it make you feel better if I stayed overnight?” Suga nodded. Daichi sighed again. “So, I’ll stay then. And I’ll prove to you that I’m fine and nothing’s going to change. But you owe me for this.”

Suga smiled, a thin, watery one, but a smile nonetheless. “Sure. Whatever you want. You should get some rest now. And I should see how things are going back there. You know how they are. I’ll be back as soon as they let in visitors,” Suga promised, giving Daichi’s arm one last reassuring squeeze before leaving.

Daichi hoped his act would be enough to convince Suga that he was okay, but he was feeling kind of unsteady. He supposed magic couldn’t tell if you had a concussion or not, but he doubted he did anyway. He wished Suga would stop being so frantic about the whole thing, really. It hurt more to see Suga upset than whatever had happened to his head.

Still, he couldn’t help the faint smile he wore as he nodded off to sleep. It was still nice to know that Suga cared.

**Author's Note:**

> daichi ends this fic slightly concussed but in love and that's all that really matters. this fic is so old, but i never finished it until now. new year new me. hopefully new me writes more lol. happy daisuga day, it's a holiday that's very near and dear to my heart.


End file.
